At the time of writing, Malaysia has yet to accede to the Budapest Treaty. For some years now, accession to the Treaty has been one of a number of key Intellectual Property Rights Protection (IPR) issues brought up by the United States of America in ongoing trade negotiations such as the Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. However, local civil society groups have continuously lobbied against Malaysia conceding ground on various “red line” issues including such IPR matters.
There are pros and cons to Malaysia’s accession to the Budapest Treaty.